The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Ohio crime" ...
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Mauritania: Slavery's Last Stronghold
Two CNN Digital reporters traveled to Mauritania -- a West African nation that became the last country in the world to abolish slavery – to document a practice the Mauritanian government denies still exists. Spending nearly a year to gain entry into the country and conducting many of their interviews at night and in covert locations, John Sutter and Edythe McNamee went to great lengths to uncover the tragedy of multigenerational servitude in Mauritania. They met people who’ve never known freedom; people who escaped slavery to find their lives hadn't changed; and abolitionists who have been fighting against slavery for years with minimal results. It was only five years ago -- in 2007 -- that the country finally passed a law that making slavery a crime. So far, only one slave owner has been convicted. The United Nations estimates 10% to 20% of Mauritanians live in slavery today. But the country continues to deny slavery’s existence and attempted to subvert Sutter’s and McNamee’s reporting by assigning to them a government “minder.” Nonetheless, the two succeeded at putting a face on a shocking practice that is similar to slavery in America before the Civil War, in which people are born into slavery and rarely escape. Their report – “Slavery’s Last Stronghold” -- featured a variety of mediums, including personal video accounts and written stories featuring firsthand accounts from freed slaves and one man’s transformative journey from slave owner to abolitionist. It also included related stories – such as the story of escaped Mauritanian slaves now living in Ohio. In response to the initiative, CNN iReport, the network’s global participatory news community, gathered messages of hope and support to be shared at a school for escaped slaves in Nouakchott, Mauritania.
Tags: slavery; Mauritania; Africa; freedom
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Vote early, vote often
Joint venture between WSB-TV in Atlanta and WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. The investigation uncovered voter fraud on the eve of the 2008 presidential election and and proved there to be no federal oversight to prevent voters from casting ballots in multiple states. The reporters took advantage of newly enacted voting laws in their states to track and compare the master voter rolls and early voting records of registered voters in Florida, Georgia and Ohio. They found more than 100,000 people who appeared to be registered in more than one states, with the potential to vote in both. They also found three individuals who already had used new early voting laws to cast ballots in both Florida and Georgia, a felony crime. They found an additional 12 people who had already voted in one state and also received an absentee ballot from another.
Tags: voter fraud; 2008 presidential election; Ohio; Florida; Georgia; absentee ballots; duplicate votes
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Ohio Attorney General: Price of Corruption
WBNS-TV (Columbus, Ohio) revealed a pattern of corruption inside the state's highest law enforcement office including cronyism, misuse of state funds and property, improper use of campaign funds, ethics violations and cover-up. The reporters found that the Attorney General had used campaign funds to rent a condominium for two of his friends/employees that was later tied to sexual harassment,alleged crimes involving state vehicles and the hub for cronyism. Their reporting revealed that the Attorney General created a "transition fund" as an unregulated 501 c4 non-profit account. Through law enforcement, the station learned that this fund funneled at least $2,000 in inappropriate payments to the Attorney General's friend/employee/condo-mate.
Tags: Ohio Attorney General's Office; corruption; 501 c4 non-profit; cronyism; abuse of public funds; misappropriation of funds; abuse of power
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Life and Death
This analysis of Ohio's capital punishment system looked at 1900 crimes that were potentially capital crimes. It found that offenders who killed whites were twice as likely to be sentenced to death as those who killed blacks; that more than half of capital cases ended with plea bargains; and that the possibility of a death sentence varied depending on where the crime was committed. It also discovered numerous errors in the state's collection of death penalty data.
Tags: death penalty; capital punishment; law enforcement; crime; murder; criminal justice system; plea bargains; capital crimes; Ohio
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Blue Mob
This investigative story is a narrative as told by an eccentric civil rights lawyer. It started off as a regular coverage of a rally protesting police brutality. As it turned out the reporter learned about the incidents of police brutality in a small town of Warren, OH. On pursuing this lead the reporter found that people who were arrested in this town were not only beaten up but that their families were afraid to talk and feared more police harassment.
Tags: police brutality; anti police brutality rally; Warren Ohio; Ohio crime; Ohio police; FOIA; public records; police; law; civil rights; civil rights lawyer; Cleveland; Richard Olivito
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Sex Abuse Continues; Juvenile offenders often locked in rooms together
Staff reporter, Geoff Dutton of the Columbus Dispatch talks about the rate of sexual offenses amongst juveniles in Ohio's only prison for young rapists and sexual molesters. As this reporter discovered, there is widespread sexual activity among the inmates in this prison and also among inmates and the security personnel. The follow-up stories also covers how the facility lacks good counselors and social workers.
Tags: CAR; FOIA; Ohio's only prison for juvenile sexual offenders; juveniles crimes; juvenile prisons; inmates in juvenile prisons; Department of Youth Services; Circleville juvenile prison; Circleville; OH; Circleville
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Crimetown USA
The New Republic examines organized crime in Youngstown, Ohio.
Tags: Mafia; mob; Youngstown; Ohio; organized crime; FBI; Mahoning Valley; Lenny Strollo; Traficant
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Living Life on Speed Dial
The Cleveland Plain Dealer tells the story of Michael Stevens, a flashy, smoothing-talking entrepreneur with connections to the mob. Stevens is the focus of a number of "multistate federal probes into guns, organized crime and a potential multimillion-dollar scam of long-distance telephone companies."
Tags: Cleveland; Ohio; Michael Stevens; guns; organized crime; fraud; business; long-distance telephone companies; FBI
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Who Killed Amy?
One decade has passed since the murder of Amy Mihaljevic in Bay Village, Ohio. "Now, the Bay Village police and the FBI are bringing the full details of the case -- and a startling new psychological profile of the killer -- to the public in hopes of catching a killer."
Tags: Crime; kidnapping; child abduction
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Unlocking the Future: Ohio's Prison Alternative
The Lima News' computer-assisted report "looked at the effectiveness of a prison-alternative program designed to ease prison crowding. ....examine(d) how many people in the program later went to prison... the program was deemed a success because it offered help with problems that often lead to crime, specifically drug and alcohol addiction."